MEASUREMENT OF EMOTIONAL QUALITY OF A PRODUCT

1. Measuring the Emotional Quality of Products By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

2. “Innovation and new product development are essential for survival in today’s business environment. Even large and well-established companies continually look for new platforms and methods to get new ideas to market”. By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

3. Customer Participation in New Product Development Practices New product and service development is an essential activity for entrepreneurial firms that wish to become serious contenders in today’s dynamic business environment, characterized by changing markets, high rates of technical obsolescence, shorter product life cycles and increasing global competition. One primary effect of this dynamic business environment is that it pushes firms to develop more efficient and effective ways to develop new products and services. Successful new product development creates significant advantages for entrepreneurs including access to early cash flows, external visibility, legitimacy, and early market share By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

4. Booz, Allen, and Hamilton (1968) provide a common six-stage process for product development typically used by firms. The six stages include exploration, screening, business analysis, development, testing, and commercialization. There is considerable support in the literature that suggests involving customers in the new product development process provides a significant advantage to the firm. By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

5. Understanding, Measuring, and Analyzing Human Emotions • Table 1: Basic Emotions are : • Happiness • Interest • Surprise • Contempt • Disgust • Anxiety • Shame • Fear • Anger • Distress • Sadness Darwin (1872), provided the first major contribution to the study of emotion with his book, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animal. He addressed questions such as what are the basic emotions, are they universal, how can they be defined, measured, and compared. Ultimately, the differences in facial expressions led the identity of various distinct emotions. Table 1: Basic Emotions These expressions not only defined the emotions, but were useful in identifying and measuring them. Subsequently, Ekman and Feisen (1978) developed the Facial Action Coding System Journal of Management and Marketing Research Measuring the Emotional Quality, (FACS), which allows one to objectively identify an emotion by the combination of the facial muscles used to express it. Visual images (pictures) can then be useful tools to interpret these expressions, and thus emotions (Shalif, 1992). By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

6. Emogram is a computer-based software program that uses non-linear systems theory to analyze the 11 basic emotions, their interactions, and track the dynamic changes in emotions over time. Traditional linear marketing research methods have often failed to provide insights needed for a company to onnect with customers and create a sustainable competitive advantage. By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

7. Figure 1: Measuring Emotions Through Emogram By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

8. Traditionally, measures of emotions have been used in clinical settings for therapeutic purposes. Emogram has been used to measure emotions in the resolution of substance abuse related trauma in couples (Capps, 2005), in managing the emotions of disaster response workers (Priesmeyer, Knickerbocker, and Mudge, 2002), and in measuring and interpreting emotional dynamics in counseling (Priesmeyer, Knickerbocker, Comstock, and Mudge, 2001). However, researchers have begun to use the measures of emotions for business purposes, such as improving organizational climate and decision-making (Priesmeyer & Mudge, 2008) and in measuring purchase intent after consumers are exposed to products, services, and advertising (Priesmeyer, Axiomakaros, and Murray, 2003). By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

9. Figure 2: Analyzing Emotions with Emogram By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

10. Emogram measures the 11 basic emotions by presenting a series of photographs that precisely depict the emotions. Individuals respond to each photograph indicating a level of agreement with each photo. The measurement process only takes a few minutes. Different presenters are available to suit demographic needs. See Figure 1. By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

11. The novelty of Emogram partially explains the paucity of research as to its utility. The non-linear nature makes it difficult to validate its constructs. However, Mudge (2003) argues that assessment instruments that are designed to measure emotions in isolation are less sensitive and less discriminating at low emotional levels, thus restricting utility in discrimination of emotions in isolation. Therefore, emotions are better studied in a nonlinear fashion as provided by Emogram. This research provides support for embracing a dynamic approach to research on emotions by utilizing this nonlinear measurement tool. By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

12. Figure 3: Interpreting Emotions Through Emogram By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

13. Using Emogram To Measure The Emotional Quality Of New Products How an individual responds to a new product can reveal much about its emotional utility. Individuals have different emotional backgrounds that can cause them to respond to a product differently. The overall Emotional Quality score shifts when an individual is exposed to a new product. This change along with the changes in each of the 11 basic emotions can be measured By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

14. Figure 4: Testing Products Using Emogram By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

15. Knowing the emotional reaction to a new product is invaluable to an entrepreneurial firm, especially when time and monetary constraints are at hand. The Emotional Quality (EQ) captures the overall emotional response to the new product, and it can be measured with scores raning from +100 (highly pleasurable) to -100 (highly unpleasurable), with zero representing a neutral response. When evaluating a new product, the interpretation of each emotion can be stated as given in Table 2 (Priesmeyer & Mudge, 2008). By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

16. Table: Emotional Reactions to Products Happiness --------- the product supports consumer desires Interest ------ ---------the product draws and holds attention Surprise ------------ the product offers unexpected features Disgust ------------------ the product has distasteful features Contempt -------------- the product causes unpleasantness Anger ------------------- the product causes aggressiveness Fear --------- the product has specific threatening features Anxiety ------ product has unspecified threatening features Shame -------- the product elicits feelings of incompetence Distress ------ the product causes feelings of helplessness Sadness ------- the product elicits feelings of personal loss By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

17. Emogram has been used to measure emotional responses to products, services, and advertising in established firms. One example is a unique chair design, called the Dondolo, which is designed to reduce stress. Each subject was given a pre-Emogram test, permitted five minutes in the Dondolo, and then a post-Emogram test was given to determine changes in their emotions. Results showed that anger and fear both decreased, and in general, users became happier, more interested and more surprised. By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

18. One very common way firms gather information from customers is through in-dept interviews to gain a deeper understanding of their needs (Mello, Sheila, & Vermette, 1995). This requires potential customers to think about how they feel, instead of having them respond at an emotional level that accurately reflects the emotional state at the time of the assessment, which is a time-consuming process. Using Emogram can significantly reduce the time required to acquire customer reactions to new products. This provides a more efficient use of resources. By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

19. A firm with static new product development practices will find themselves lagging behind the competition. As Griffin (1997) contends, new product development trends are evolutionary. Firms cannot allow their practices to stagnate or they will not remain competitive. By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

20. Emogram can easily provide the competitive advantage entrepreneurial firms need to survive in a dynamic business environment, by making new product development processes more efficient and effective. Product-testing almost exclusively focuses on the physical attributes of products, and at best, taps into cognitive assessments, asking customers to provide information about what they think of the product instead of the product’s emotion-evoking qualities. Emogram, not only provides a more efficient way to test products in the market, but provides a more effective way because to goes beyond traditional cognitive assessments by tapping into the eleven basic emotions. By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA

21. Thank you! By Dr.Rajesh Patel , Director, NRV MBA